NASHVILLE, Tenn. — All three doubles teams for the Vanderbilt’s women’s tennis team advanced at the ITA Ohio Valley Regionals in Murfreesboro on Friday as well as several Commodores in singles play.
Marcella Cruz won a pair of matches in straight sets and has yet to drop a set in the tournament. She defeated Belmont’s Anastasiya Zholdakova, 6-4, 7-6 (5) and Kentucky’s Carlota Molina, 6-2, 6-3 to advance to the Round of 16 on Saturday.
Holly Staff also won twice more on Friday to advance to the Round of 16. She lost just two games in three sets. She defeated Daniela Rivera (ETSU), 6-1, 6-1, and then won the first set over Nathalia Gasparin (Purdue), 6-0, before Gasparin retired.
Cruz and Staff will resume Saturday at 9 a.m. with the potential to meet up in the quarterfinals at 12:30 p.m.
Anessa Lee won her first match Friday, 6-2, 6-3, over Cincinnati’s Emma Miceli, but fell just short of the Sweet Sixteen in a three-set defeat to Carmen Gallardo Guevara (Purdue), 0-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Dasha Kourkina won her second round match over Amy Kaplan (BSU), 6-2, 6-4.
Meanwhile, in doubles play, all three Commodore pairings won their opening matches. Stevens/Rompf defeated Mauro/Barnard (MTSU), 8-4, while Cruz/Kourkina beat Denysiewicz-Slowek/Saravanan (Miami of Ohio), 8-2, and Staff/Lee were victorious over Niedzialowski/Espinal (UT-Martin), 8-0.
Regional doubles and singles champions and finalists qualify for the ITA National Fall Championships, which will take place in San Diego, California, beginning on Nov. 4.
Following the ITA Regionals, the Commodores will compete at the Tennessee Fall Invitational in Knoxville on Oct. 28-31.
Stay updated with the Commodores as they compete in the ITA Regionals by following @VandyWTennis on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Vanderbilt Results
Singles
R132: Cruz def. Morales (ETSU), 6-4, 7-5
R64: Cruz def. Zholdakova (Belmont), 6-4, 7-6 (5)
R32: Cruz def. Molina (Kentucky), 6-2, 6-3
R132: Staff def. Davies (Ball State), 6-3, 6-3
R64: Staff def. Rivera (ETSU), 6-1, 6-1
R32: Staff def. Nathalia Gasparin (Purdue), 6-0, Ret.
R132: Kourkina def. Henry (Belmont), 6-2, 6-1
R64: Kourkina def. Kaplan (BSU), 6-2, 6-4
R32: Kourkina
R132: Lee def. Morris (Austin Peay), 7-5, 6-4
R64: Lee def. Miceli (Cincinnati), 6-2, 6-3
R32: Gallardo Guevara (Purdue) def. Lee, 0-6, 6-3, 6-4
R132: Long def. Trondson (Belmont), 6-0, 6-2
R64: Graham (Xavier) def. Long, 6-3, 6-4
R132: Stevens def. Jones (Memphis), 6-1, 6-2
R64: Carvajal (ETSU) def. Stevens, 6-2, 6-3
R132: Rompf def. Dev (Miami of Ohio), 6-3, 5-7, 6-0
R64: Romero (UM) def. Rompf, 6-1, 6-4
Doubles
R64: Stevens/Rompf def. Mauro/Barnard (MTSU), 8-4
R64: Cruz/Kourkina def. Denysiewicz-Slowek/Saravanan (Miami Ohio), 8-2
R64: Staff/Lee def. Niedzialowski/Espinal (UT-Martin), 8-0
